Dr. J Peruvingal PT, DPT

As I was growing up, the only profession I could see myself in was being a cop.  In my mind, police were the only one that helped people.  To become a police officer, you had to take an exam, P.S.A.T or S.A.T scores didn’t matter so I never took those exams and barely passed High School. My mother was against me wanting to be a cop because of the dangers involved in the profession but as a typical High Schooler, I wanted to do the exact opposite of what my mom wanted me to do.  For some reason she wanted to see me as a Physical Therapist. She was telling me about P.T’s but my mind was already made up to be a cop. ​

​Then one day she asked if she arranges volunteer work me in a rehab center (not the P.T department), would you do it? I was fine with it as long as it wasn’t in the Physical Therapy department.  Soon after I started volunteering  in the Recreational Department of an inpatient facility (thanks to Molly Varghese Chungathil Aunty). Part of my job was to distribute lunch menus to the residents. When I went to a room of a bed ridden resident, he was trying to tell me something and his words weren’t clear as he had a stroke. I was in a hurry since distributing menus were the last thing I did before punching out but I was curious about what he was trying to say. Finally I figured it out, he wanted me to close the window shades because sun was hitting his eyes. When I closed the shade, he just held my hand and was thanking even though no words were spoken. Now it started to get thru my thick skull that you don’t have to be a cop to help someone.  At that time an aide came to take him for Physical Therapy and I went down to P.T department for the first time. For the very first time I saw what a Physical Therapist can do for a bed ridden person, at  that moment I decided that I wanted to be a P.T but it was too late since I never took S.A.T and barely passed High School. Nevertheless the burning desire to be P.T was born in me so I went to LaGuardia Community College. I called it LACC , it sounded a lot nicer than saying I was attending a Community College! There is nothing wrong with Community Colleges, as a matter of fact I think it’s great especially when you have an undecided major. The problem for me however was that there was too much gap between classes which prevented me from working which was crucial. My goal was to get all A’s transfer out to Hunter College but the problem was the tuition at Hunter College at the time was $10,000 a semester which was way out of reach for me. I had to choose between my dream of becoming a P.T and $10000, during that time my aunt (Mariakutty Puthusseril) who was attending Nursing School in India called to let me know their School is starting P.T program. I found out that it would only cost me $10000 for the whole P.T program and whether I study in Hunter or India I would have to take the State Board. The answer to go to India was obvious for me without researching much about Education system or food.
Since it was a new program, there were no dorms for us and we were on our own for food.  The Nursing matrons office was my bedroom at night which means I was sleeping on the floor. Sleeping conditions and food were never a concern compared to my desire to be a P.T. However, the difficulty for me was the Educational system in India which requires you to answer questions in essay format and I grew up with multiple choice testing style. This was a great difficulty for me until I figured out that you don’t need to know the exact answer like in multiple choice, I just had to be in the ball-park and somehow connect my answer to the question with one sentence. The transition from New York to India were made smooth by the Nursing Principal’s (Suzanne Bijou) help. Her brother was my local guardian. Her father (Pastor Paul Varkey) strengthened my faith and her mom’s home cooked meals made it much easier for me.
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What I understood from this is that if you know exactly what you want then regardless of the obstacles you may face, you will find ways to overcome it all.
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Dr. J Peruvingal PT, DPT

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